Everything Everywhere Daily · Monday, August 31, 2026
Steel produced after 1945 is slightly contaminated with radioactive isotopes due to atmospheric nuclear testing, making it unsuitable for sensitive scientific instruments. Pre-1945 steel, particularly from shipwrecks submerged for decades, offers the necessary low background radiation levels.
“Low background steel is primarily used when scientists need to detect extremely faint amounts of radiation. It has been used to construct shielding for whole body radiation counters, gamma ray spectrometers, nuclear safeguard equipment, and instruments that measure trace amounts of radioactive contamination in food, soil, water, and industrial materials.”
“The answer is that you get it from the past. You have to get it from steel that was made before 1945.”
“Metal that has spent decades underwater receives shielding from cosmic radiation. At least more than steel that's been on the surface.”